Two years ago, Texans owner Bob McNair and general manager Rick Smith made a pragmatic decision to stay the course with the team’s head coach, maintaining continuity and not succumbing to impatient public pressure to fire Gary Kubiak.

Now, with the 2-4 Texans one of most shocking disappointments in the NFL, McNair and Smith find themselves at a critical crossroads regarding what they should do (or not do) about Kubiak.

The Texans, after a 2-0 start, have been outscored 72-16 in their past two games, including a 38-13 home loss last week to the Rams, a 10-point underdog. After a Week 3 blowout loss to the Ravens, they blew a 20-3 second-half lead to Seattle and lost 23-20 three weeks ago. Dating back to last season, in the Texans’ last seven regular-season losses they have either blown leads or been blown out.

On Sunday, the reeling team plays the 6-0 Chiefs in Kansas City. Good luck with that.

Franchise quarterback Matt Schaub has come unglued, prompting a classless portion of the Houston fan base to harass him at his home and cheer when he injured an ankle last Sunday.

Somehow, the Texans are one of the NFL’s biggest messes despite having the No. 1 ranked overall defense in the league, one of its most dominant defensive players in J.J. Watt. Somehow, they cannot get out of their own way on offense despite having the second-leading rusher in the NFL in Arian Foster (531 yards) and the league’s leading receiver in Andre Johnson (44 catches).

So, what gives?

The Texans’ quarterback play has been horrible at the most critical times. Four of Schaub’s nine INTs have been returned for touchdowns, and backup T.J. Yates also has one, giving the Texans five pick-6s in five games — a dubious NFL record.

Is this all Kubiak’s fault? Certainly not, but Kubiak, a former NFL quarterback, is supposed to be a quarterback guru. That makes this situation troubling.

Just three NFL head coaches have a longer current tenure with their respective teams than Kubiak’s eight years with the Texans.

Bill Belichick is in his 13th year with the Patriots and has won three Super Bowls and finished runner-up twice. Tom Coughlin is in his 10th year with the Giants and has won two Super Bowls. Marvin Lewis, in his 11th year the Bengals, and made the playoffs four times. Mike McCarthy and Sean Payton are each in their eighth seasons with the Packers and Saints, respectively, and have both won a Super Bowl.

Kubiak, after not making the playoffs in his first five years with the Texans, has been to the playoffs in each of the past two seasons, winning two wild-card games but never advancing past the divisional round.

The big picture, though, is less of a problem than the present for Kubiak.

He is coaching a team that went 12-4 last season and was a Super Bowl favorite this year, with cornerstone talent at almost every key position, and the impatient fan pressure in Houston is becoming excruciating.

Interestingly, when McNair awarded Smith and Kubiak contract extensions before the 2012 season, he was going to extend them to 2016. Smith signed on through 2016, but Kubiak, perhaps hoping to cash in again with success leverage, opted for a shorter contract and only signed through 2014.

Now, with Schaub’s future seemingly in question, you have to wonder whether it will be Kubiak picking and grooming the next franchise quarterback.

Incredibly, though, as bad as it has looked in the last month, all is not lost for the Texans. If they upset the Chiefs and the Broncos defeat the Colts on Sunday night, the Texans return from a bye week for a Nov. 3 home game against Indianapolis with first place in the AFC South on the line.

That, of course, is the best-case scenario.

The reality is the fans in Houston feel teased and let down and are restless. The feeling among Houston insiders is that Kubiak cannot make it to that 2014 final year of his contract without at least making the playoffs this season, and given the talent on his roster (an AFC-most nine Pro Bowl selections last season) even that might not be enough.

Clearly, Kubiak is testing the patience of McNair and Smith. Whether they continue to stay the course and maintain continuity or make a change in an effort to make a move to the next level remains very much in question.